NATURE 



[November 21, 19 12 



Easter Island. The Rapanui Speech and the 

 Peopling of South-east Polynesia. By W. Churchill. 

 Pp. iv + 340. (Washington : Carnegie Institution.) 



The Mineralogy of the Rarer Metals. By E. 

 Cahen and W. O. Wootton. Pp. xxviii + 211. (Lon- 

 don : C. Griffin and Co., Ltd.) 6s. net. 



The Gas Turbine. Theory, Construction, and 

 Records of the Results obtained from two actual 

 Machines. By .•\. Holzwarth, translated by A. P. 

 Chalkley. Pp. viii+140. (London: C. Griffin and 

 Co., Ltd.) 7s. 6d. net. 



Electrical Photometry and Illumination. By Prof. 

 H. Bohle. Pp. xi + 222. (London : C. Grilfin and 

 Co., Ltd.) \os. 6d. net. 



Science and the Human Mind. By \V.' . D. 

 and C. D. Whetham. Pp. xi + 304. (London Long- 

 mans and Co.) 5s. net. 



Aeronautics. Technical Report of the Advisory 

 Committee for the Year 1911-12. Pp. 323 + plates. 

 (London: H.M. Stationery Office; Wvman and Sons, 

 Ltd.) Hi. 



Collected Papers in Physics and Engineering. By 

 Prof. J. Thomson. Selected and arranged with un- 

 published material and brief annotations by Sir J. 

 Larmor and J. Thomson. Pp. civ + 484. (Cambridge 

 University Press.) 15s. net. 



Papers on Psyeho-Analysis. By Prof. i. Jones. 

 Pp. xv + 432. (London: Baillifere, Tindall ad Cox.) 

 los. 6d. net. 



The Lost Towns of the Yorkshire Coast, and other 

 Chapters bearing upon the Geography of the District. 

 By T. Sheppard. Pp. xviii + 329. (London: A. 

 Brown and Soos, Ltd.) 7s. 6d. net. 



Notes and Queries on Anthropology. Edited by B. 

 Freire-Marreco and Prof. J. L. Myres'. Fourth edition. 

 Pp. xii + 288. (London: Royal Anthropological Insti- 

 tute.) 5s. 



Zum Problem der Vererbungstrager. By Dr. F. 

 Vejdovsky. Pp. iii+:84+i2 piates. " (Prag : Xonigl. 

 Bohm. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften.) 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, November 21. 



Royal Society, at 4.^0.— An Investisation of the .Spectru.n ^ onium ■ 

 A. S. Russell and R. Rossi.— (i) A Note on the Absorptiu,, , l Ravs- 

 (.) The Similarity m Nature of X and Primary y Rays'; J. Gray'- 



The Spectra of Fluorescent ROnteen Radiations : T. C C apman — 

 Optical Investigation of .Soiidil^ed Gases. II. The Crystallogr; phic Pro- 

 perties of Hydrogen and O.vygen : Dr. W. Wahl.— An Electric furnace for 

 Experiments i«i'a««) at Temperatures up to 1500" C. : R. E. .ilade.— An 

 Investigation of the Dissociation-Pressures and Melting Points of th- 

 System Copper, Cuprous Oxide : R. E. Slade and F. D Farrow — Xote 

 on th-e Capacity Coefficient of Spheres : Dr. A. Russell.— The Motion of 

 V iscous Liquid due to Uniform and Periodic Motion maintained over a 

 Segment of an Infmite Plane Boundary: W. J. Harrison —The Plastic 

 Hysteresis of Steel : Prof. R. Hopkinson and G. T. Williams —Ionic Size 

 in Relation to Molecular Physics, together with a New Law relating to 

 the Heats of Formation of Solid, Liquid and Ionic Molecules ■ W R 

 Housfield.— The SynthesisofaSilicalcyanideand ofa Felspar: Dr. f E 

 Reynolds. — A Method of Finding the Conductivity for Heat : Prof c' 

 Niven and A. E. M Geddes. 



Institution of Mining and Metaliurgy, at 8. 



LiNNEAN Society, at S.— Mr. P. A, Talbot's Collection of Plants from 

 Southern Nigeria, illustrated by Lantern Slides: Dr. \. B Rendle — Im 

 pressions of the Feeding Tracks of Umax maxinms and Helix as/,ersa ■ 

 Mrs. Lnngstaff.— Vegetable Mechanics: Rev. George Henslow.— Some 

 Indian Jurassic Gymnosperms: Miss Nellie Bancroft. 



FRIDAY, November 22. 



Institution of Mechanical Engineers, at 8.-Vapour-Compression 

 Refrigerating Machines: J, Wemyss Anderson.-A Contributio i to the 

 Iheoryof Refrigerating Machines: Dr. J. H. Grindlev 



Physical Society, at 5.-(i) The Law of Plastic Flow of .-. Ductile 

 Material; (2) Kinematograph Illustrations of the Torsion and ireal<in<» 

 ?,' Large Specimens : C. E. Larard.— A Column Testing Machine : Prof 

 Ka. G. Coker. 



MONDAY, November 25. 



iNSTlTtiTE OF ACTUARIES, at s.-Inaugural Address by the President 

 (I'redk. Schooling). 



TUESDAY, November 26. 



'*Wal';f"w'''id "w^rr''' *' •'•3°-~1"'>= Hardwood Timbers of New South 



RoVAi Anthropological Institute, at 8.3o.-Some Bronze Age and 



l.nush Konei from Lroadstairs, with Type Contours of all the Bronze 



A^e Skulls in the Royal College of Surgeons Museum : F. G Parsons 



NO. 2247, VOL. 90] 



Zoological Society, at 8. 30. — The Genus Engaius, or the Land Crayfishes 

 of Australia : G. W. Smith and Dr. E. H. J. Schusler.— The Structure 

 of Bone in Fishes : a Contribution to P.ila:ohistologv : E. S. Goodrich.— 

 Report on the Myzostomida collected by Mr. Cyril Crossland in the Red 

 Sea in 1905; Dr. C. L. Boulenger.- Description of an Amphipod belong- 

 ing to the Family Talitrida;. from the Woodbush, Transvaal; Hon. Paul A. 

 Methuen. — Some Points in the Anatomy of the Mouth^parts of the 

 Mallophaga; Bruce F. Cummiiigs. 



Institution op Civil Engineers, at 8 p.m.— Mechanical Handling of 

 Coal for British Locomotives : C. J. B. Cooke. 



Faraday Society, at 8.— The Billiter Alkali-Chlorine Cells: Dr. A. J. 

 Allmand.- A Neutral Oil Emulsion as a Model of a Suspension Colloid : 

 R. Ellis.— Note on the Electrolysis of Nitric Acid Solutions of Copper : 

 J. H. Stansbie. 



WEDNESDAY, November 27. 



Royal Society of Arts, at 8.— Political Economy as a Code of Life : 

 H. Cox. 



British Astronomical Association, at 5.— The Astronomical Sig- 

 nificance of the Prehistoric Monuments in the Outer Hebrides: Capt. 

 Bayle Somerville, R. N. Ami atlin- Papers. 



THURSDAY, November 28. 

 Institution of F.lectrical Engineers, at 8. 



Concrete Institute, at 7.30. — Bills of Quantities for Reinforced Concrete- 

 Work : John M. Theobald. 



SATURDAY, November 30. 



Essex Field Club (at the Essex Museum, Stratford), at 6.— Some Letters 



from the Rev, Wm. Deiham, Rector of Upminster, Essex, to Dacrc 



Barrett, of llelhus, Essex (1704-1710). Communicated, with Remarks, by 



T. Barrett-Lennard.— The Mycetozoa: Miss Gulielma Lister. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Mechanistic Conception of Life. By Prof. 



E. A. Schafer, F.R.S 327 



The French Arthurian Romances. By Rev. John 



Griffith .' 32S 



Geographical Text-books and Guides 329 



Our Bookshelf 330 



Letters to the Editor: — 



The Investigation of Flint. — Sir E. Ray Lankester, 



K.C.B., F.R.S 331 



The Making of a Rostro-carinate Flint Implement. 



(/////.v^-.rta/.)— By J. Reid Moir 334. 



On an Apparent Fallacy in the Statistical Treatment 

 of " Antedating " in the hiheritance of I'athological 



Conditions. — Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S. . . . 334 



Is the Earth Shrinking ? — C. E. Stromeyer .... 335. 

 The Hardness of Coins. (Il/iistralcd.) By Dr. T. K. 



Rose 33J 



International Congress for General and Medical 



Radiology. By A. S. R 336 



Sleeping Sickness in the Katanga 337 



Notes 337 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Identity of Schaumasse's and Tuttle's Cornels 



('giz/') 341 



Borrelly's Comet 19121; 341 



Observations of Gale's Comet 1912a 341 



Nebulae and Clusters Photographed with the Crossley 



Reflector 341 



Captain Amundsen's Journey to the South Pole . . 341 



Anthropology at the British Association 342 



Bird Notes. By R. L • . . 344 



Report of the Meteorological Committee 344 



The Metals in Antiquity 344 



The Borderland between Electricity and other 



Sciences. By W. Duddell, F.R.S 345 



University Students in State-aided Institutions of 



England and Wales 347 



University and Educational Intelligence 348 



Societies and Academies 349 



Books Received 351 



Diary of Societies 352 



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Editorial Communications to the Editor. 



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